Time-lock



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. F. NEWBURY.

TIME LOOK.

Patented Aug. 1, 1882.

' (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2..

H. F. NEWBURY.

TIME LOOK.

No. 262,101. v Patented Aug. 1, 1882.,

Vfl a 12216915209 Utvrrnti TATES HENRY. i NEWBURY, on BROOKLYN, NEWYORK.

TllVl E-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,101, dated August1, 1882.

Application filed April 27, 1882. (No model.)

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY F. NEWBURY, of thecity of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Uhronometric or TimeLocks and the Mode of Mounting the Same, (Case 1;) and I do herebydeclare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of myinvention, which will enable others skilled-in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

A chronometric or time look, as the term is understood in the art ofsafe or vault protection, is a lock whose bolt or checking device(sometimes technically called dog) is, for the purpose of unlocking atleast, under the control of a time-movement capable of withdrawing itautomatically or of permitting it to be withdrawn from the lockingposition upon the arrival of the hour for which the mechanism has beenset. locks upon the interior of the structures to be protected, andwithout mechanical connection with the exterior thereof, it has beensupposed that an efficient security is provided against what are knownas masked burglaries, and that thus locks of this class afford completeprotection against the operations of the burglar, except when he resortsto violence calculated to force the walls of the safe or vault. I havediscovered, however, that the security thus afforded is apparent only,and that any of the time-locks now upon the market, when mounted in theestablished way, can be defeated by the burglar without difficulty andwithout resort to force to break or penetrate the walls of the structurein which the lock is used. From this it results that practically a safeor vault guarded by a combination lock has its security increased butlittle, if any, by the addition of any of the existing time-locks, andthat the protection afforded by such timelock alone is far less reliablethan that afforded by an ordinary combination-lock alone. This defect inthe existing chronometric looks as heretofore mounted arises from thefrangible character of certain parts of the time movement, which in allfine work are made so slight and delicate as to be broken readily by asudden shock such as might be communicated By placing suchto themthrough the walls of the safe or vault by the explosion ofa small chargeof dynamite, nitro-glycerine, or other quick explosive outside the wallsof the structure, butin proximity to that part of the walls againstwhich the lock is secured. The parts of a time-movement which are thefarthest removed from the main wheel are the most delicate, andtherefore the most easily broken, this being the case especially withthe staff of the third wheel and with the pallet and escape'wheelstaffs. The journals of these staffs as ordinarily constructed are madeexceedingly small, for the purpose of reducing the surface-contact, and

thus the friction, to the minimum, and the finer the workmanship of thelock the slighter and more frangible these parts are likely to be. Anymaterial increase in the extentof the bearings whereby the strength ofthe parts would be augmented would correspondingly increase the frictionand impair the time-keeping properties of the movement. Time-locks withjeweled movements also are especially exposed to injuryin the mannerindicated,sincethejewels, by reason of their brittleness, might easilybe broken by the force of an explosion of great intensity in closeproximity to them. The destruction of any of the parts intermediatebetween the balance-wheel and the main wheel at once releases the mainwheel from the control of the eseapement, and the movement immediatelybegins to run down, a movement which otherwise would continue to run forseveral days without rewinding now running down in as many seconds. Asthe dial or other device arranged to act upon the lock-bolt or dog towithdraw it or permit it to move from the looking position is actuatedfrom the same spring which drives the main wheel, its speed will becorrespondingly accelerated, so that the dog, instead of being withdrawnfrom engagement with the bolt-work of the door at the regular hour forwhich thelock has been set,will be withdrawn immediately upon theexplosion or other shock, leaving the safe or vault, so far as the 9time-lock is concerned, entirely under the control of the burglar.Ifthere are other locks on the door, (either combination or key locks,)the burglar will probably have effected the unlocking of them in advanceof his attack upon the time-lock, either by picking them or forcingthem, or by threats compelling the co operation of the custodian of thekey or combination. In whatever way this may be done, the subsequentunlocking of the bolt ot' the timelock in the manner indicated (andrepeated experiments show that this can readily be done with a charge ofdynamite so small as to make but little noise, and not even indent orotherwise appreciably att'ect the walls of the safe) removes allobstruction to free access to the valuables placed under the protectionof such lock.

The present invention seeks to overcome this ditiiculty connected withthe use of existing time-locks as heretofore mounted; and it consists inproviding the lock with some form of safety mechanism to prevent theretraction of the lockbolt in case the lockis broken, and in providing asupplemental support to sustain the lock it' the ordinary fastenings aredestroyed, and thus preserve its operative connection with thedoor-bolts.

The invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a view in perspective of an open safe, showing atime-lock secured to the inner face of the outer door and a supplementalsupport secured to the outer face of the inner door. a horizontalsection of a portion of the safe, showing the two doors, the spacebetween them, the time-lock, from which the top of the case has beenremoved, and the supplemental support; and Fig. 5 is a transversevertical section of the lock mechanism shown in Fi 2, the section beingtaken along the diaLarbor. Figs. 3 and 4: show in elevation and plan,respectively, a modified form of supplemental support.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, A is a timelock, that hereshown being the wellknown Holmes lock; B is the time-movement; C, thedog or lock-bolt; 1), the dial; E and E the outer and inner doors of thesafe; F F, the door frames or jambs; G G, the doorbolts; H, the carryingor tie bar; I 1, the bolt-bars; J, the abutment for the end of thelock-boltC to bear against; K, a pivoted angle or bell-crank lever, andL the link which connects such lever with the carrying-bar.

When the dog or end of the bolt C- isinterposed between the abutment Jand the head of the angle-lever K the bolt-work is locked. \Vhen thelock-bolt is retracted the door-bolts G G can be thrown back and thedoor opened. This last may happen at the predetermined hour under theregular action of the time mechanism, or, as above explained, it may beeffected at exceptional hours by the breaking of some part or parts ofthe clock-work by a sudden and heavy shock, unless special appliancesare used to prevent the clock-work from running down at such times, or,if the mainspring runs down, to prevent it from acting on the lock-bolt.Such appliances have been invented by me, and have already been Fig. 2is' made the subjects of various applications for Letters Patentheretofore filed by me in the Patent Otlice of the United States, anddesignated as Cases A, B, C, and 1). According to these inventions asupplemental guard or checking device may be arranged in combinationwith the lock in such a manner as to remain inactive under ordinarycircumstances, but to be brought into operation to dog the train of theclock or the bolt of the lock upon the occurrence of any shocksufllcient to break the time-movement, (Case A; or (Case B)- illustratedalso in Fig. 5 ot' the present applicationthe construction may be suchthat upon the occurrence of a shock calculated to injure the clock somepart of the train between the mainspring and the lock-bolt will be movedout of position,so as tointerrupt the connection between theseparts,which will permit thelockbolt to remain in the doggingpositionnotwithstanding that the mainspring runs down; or, again, (Case C,) thestafi'sof thetime-movement may be provided with supplemental bearings,which will preserve the continuity of the train, although the staffsshould be broken; or, (Case D,) acentrifugal detent may be attached toone of the wheels of theclock,which upon any undue acceleration of thespeed will be thrown out, and by acting upon a fixed stopor upon thetrigger of some supplemental automatic stop will arrest or retardthemotion ot' the clock. These special modes of protection will be foundsufficient exceptas againsta shock of such intensity as to destroy thefastenings of the lock and remove it bodily from its seat. To preventthe look from being thrown or from falling out of position when itst'astenings are thus destroyed, and thereby releasing the bolt-work, thepresent invention provides supplemental supports so arrangedthatalthough all the fastening-bolts of the lock be broken the lock willstill be held in working position by the supplemental supports. One formof such supplemental support is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In these tiguresM is a shelf bolted to the inner door at a height a trifle lower thanthe bottom of the lock, and extending forward under the lock when theouter door is closed. N N are two end abutments to prevent lateralmovement of the lock,and O is an upper abutment, designed to prevent thelock from being lifted upward. P l are stiff springs, arranged to pressagainst the face of the lock and crowd it against the door in oppositionto its tendency to be thrown inward away from the door by the forcewhichbreaks the fastening-bolts. These springs would be unnecessary itthe space between the two doors were but a trifle in excess of thethickness of the lock. The special function of the rear lateralabutment, E, and of the top abutment, O, is to prevent the lock frombeing forced out of place by pressure brought against it from theoutside through the medium of the spindle Q after its fastening-boltsmay have been destroyed. A lock constructed like the Holmes lock (shownin Fig. 1) would require both of these abutments, but in using locks inwhich a backward pressure on the carrying-bar would not tend to lift thelook, as in the case of the Yale or the Sargent timelock, the topabutment would ordinarily not be necessary. On small safes, however, thetop abutment as well as the two lateral ones should be used, as it wouldprevent the lock from being displaced by the overturning of the safe.

The inner door of the safein Figs. 1 and 2 is shown as carrying acombination-lock and boltwork which are operated in the usualway, thespindles and handles for operating them notbeing shown in Fig. 2.

Another form of supplemental support is lilustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. Inthis case the lock is secured to the door of the safe by the use ofbolts, with only thin rubber washers R R interposed between thesafe-door and the lock-ease, in the manner at present usually practiced.In addition to this,however, other bolts, S S, are provided,which passthrough ears on the lock-case, and are seated in the safe-door. Thesebolts are ofmuch greater length than the others, and carry spiralsprings in the manner shown. If the main bolts should be broken by theforce of a shock, these supplemental bolts, with their springs, could berelied upon to sustain thelock and keep it from being thrown out ofoperative connection with the bolt-work of the door, the springs beinguseful also to graduate the shock, so as to relieve the bolts from thedanger of being broken. It will be seen that the operation issubstantially the same as in Figs. 1 and 2; but in one respect thelatter construction is superior. When the supplemental support isattached to the inner door it is far less likely to be affected by anexplosion or other heavy shock directed against the door whichcarriesthe lock.

Both of the above forms of supplemental support, but particularly thefirst one, (shown in Figs. 1 and 2,) will be found advantageous when theinterior space immediately adjacent to the door is too limited to permitmuch play to the lock. Where a wider space is available the lock may bemounted on flexible supports, and at such distance from the face of thedoor as bythis very means to be protected from any considerable shock.Such mode of mounting, however, forms no part of the present invention,but is the subject of another application for Letters Patent heretoforefiled by me and designated as (Jase E.

It is evident that the present invention is not limited as to theparticular construction of the time-lock used, butis broad enough toinclude the use, in the manner described, of other locks--such, forinstance, as the Sargent or the Yale.-the principle of the inventionbeing, first, to protect the lock-bolt against retraction, and, second,to prevent the look from being released by the destruction of itsordinary fastenings from its operative connection with the bolt-work ofthe door.

One of the modes above referred to of protecting the lock-bolt againstretraction by the premature running down of the mainspring isillustrated in detail in Figs. 2, 3, and'5, being the mode of protectionwhich forms the special subject of my application for patent abovereferred to as (Jase B. The mainsprings are contained in the drums T T,and the connection between each of these springs and the dial D, whichis revolved thereby, is by means of the pinions U on the arbors of thesprings, the spur-wheels V, the pinions W on the same shafts as thewheels V, and the intermediate dialwheel X, secured to the same hub asthe dial and turning with it. The pin d, projecting from the back of thedial, is the pin which operates the bolt-withdrawingleverY.Ahollownut,X, screwed on the end of the dial-arbor, conceals a spiralspring, which serves under ordinary circumstances to hold the dial-wheelXin mesh with the wheels W; but under the influence of a sudden shockthe dial will be thrown forward, the spring yielding sufficiently topermit the wheels X and W to disengage, when the pivoted detent Z, whichpreviously had ridden on the periphery of the wheel X, now drops behindit and prevents its return. The dial thereupon comes to a halt,notwithstanding the clock may have been broken and have thus caused themainspring to take on unusual speed. The dotted lines in Fig. 5 indicatethe position of the dial and the dial-wheel X, when the latter has beendisengaged from the wheels which connect it with the main spring orsprings.

U is the winding-post, and D the dial-index.

The invention herein set forth differs from that which forms the subjectof another application for patent filed by me contemporaneously herewithand designated as (Jase H, in that in the present invention the lock hastwo sets of supports, one of which, spoken of as the supplementalsupport, is intended to be brought into action only when the other hasbeen destroyed, and which may or may not be elastic according tocircumstances, while in Case H the lock is mounted directly uponsupports, which are so constructed and arranged that their flexibilityand elasticity prevent them from being materially injured by any shockdirected against the safe less than what would be required to set orbind the door-bolts by the distortion of the parts.

What is claimed as new is- 1. The combination, with a time-lock, of asupplemental support for holding the lock in operative connection withthe door-bolts of the safe or vault in which the lock is used in casethe main fastenings are destroyed, and means for preventing theretraction of the lock-bolt when the time mechanism is subjected to ashock sufficient to break its more delicate parts, substantially asspecified.

2. The combination, with a time-lock, of a supplemental support forholding the lock in loo anism is subjected to a shock sufiicieut tobreak its more delicate parts, substantially as specified.

HENRY F. NEWBURY. \Vitncsses:

A. B. JONES,

E0121. 1]. DUNCAN.

